Recording a podcast in vegas
How to Record a Podcast During CES (or Any Vegas Conference) — A Practical Guide
Every January, more than 100,000 people fly into Las Vegas for CES. Founders, CEOs, investors, journalists, product leaders — all in one city for one week. If you host a business podcast, this is the single highest-leverage week of your year. And most podcasters waste it completely.
The same is true for NAB in April, MJBizCon in November, IMEX in October, Money 20/20, SEMA, Funnel Hacking Live, and dozens of other major Las Vegas conferences. The biggest names in your industry are physically in the same city as you, often for less than 72 hours. The question is whether you walk away with three new business relationships and a hotel bill — or three new business relationships, six recorded podcast episodes, and months of content.
This guide walks through exactly how to do the second one.
Why conferences are the best podcasting opportunity most hosts miss
A podcast is, fundamentally, a way to get an hour of focused attention from a high-value person. Most of the time, that's a hard ask. People are busy. Calendars are full. Cold outreach gets ignored. The friction is real.
During a conference, that friction disappears. The person you've been trying to interview for six months is in a hotel two miles from your studio. They have downtime between sessions. They're already in a networking mindset. And the ask — "Want to record a podcast episode together while we're both here?" — lands completely differently than the same ask sent over LinkedIn in February.
The hardest part of podcasting is getting the right person to say yes. During a Vegas conference week, that part gets easy.
The 4-step playbook
Step 1: Make your guest list before you book your flight
Six weeks out, build a list of 15 to 25 people you'd love to interview who are confirmed to attend or speak at the conference. The conference website usually publishes a speaker list and exhibitor directory — start there. Add anyone in your existing network who you know is going.
Now rank them by two things: how much you actually want to interview them, and how realistic it is they'd say yes. The top of your list should be people who are reachable through your network or via a warm intro.
Step 2: Reach out 3 to 5 weeks before the conference
Too early and they haven't planned their schedule yet. Too late and the calendar is full. The sweet spot is 3 to 5 weeks out. Send a short, specific message:
"Hey [Name] — I'll be at [Conference] this year. I host [Podcast Name], where I interview [audience]. I'd love to record an episode with you while we're both in town. The recording takes about 60 minutes, in a real studio (not a hotel room), 20 minutes from the Strip. I think your story on [specific thing] would be incredibly valuable to my audience. Open to it?"
Specific. Short. No pitch about your audience size. The fact that you've already booked a real studio signals you're serious — that single detail dramatically improves your yes rate.
Step 3: Batch the sessions
Don't book one session here and one there. Pick one or two days during the conference and record 3 to 6 episodes back-to-back. There are three reasons this works better:
- Less coordination. Once you've booked the studio, every additional session is just a calendar invite to the next guest.
- Better content. You're already in interview mode. The 4th conversation is sharper than the 1st.
- Better economics. Most studios offer half-day or full-day rates that bring the per-session cost down significantly.
Step 4: Pick a studio that respects your guest's time
This is where most visiting podcasters mess up. They book a hotel suite, an Airbnb with a ring light, or worst of all — they try to record in the conference press room. None of these work when your guest is a CEO, a founder, or a senior executive.
A real studio with free parking, professional cameras, and an engineer in the room signals one thing: you are serious, and so is this conversation. That changes the energy of the recording. Your guest shows up better. Your content is better. The relationship that comes out of it is deeper.
We built our Henderson studio specifically for visiting podcasters — minutes from the Strip and the Las Vegas Convention Center, free on-site parking, dedicated engineer, live cut delivered same day. Most of our visiting clients book multiple sessions across one or two days during their conference trip.
What to do with the content after
A 6-session conference trip gives you 6 long-form episodes plus 60+ short-form clips, easily 3 to 6 months of content. Don't dump it all at once. Drip it across the months following the conference, tagging your guests when each episode goes live. Every release is a new touchpoint with that person and a new piece of business development.
The best part: every guest now has a reason to talk to you again. "Hey, your episode is going live this week, want me to send you the clips?" is the easiest follow-up message you'll ever send.
The short version
- Build a guest list 6 weeks before the conference.
- Reach out 3 to 5 weeks out with a short, specific ask that mentions you've already booked a real studio.
- Batch 3 to 6 sessions across one or two days.
- Use a real studio — not a hotel room — so your guests show up the way you want them to.
- Drip the content over the following months, using each release as a follow-up reason.
Conference weeks are the highest-leverage time of the year for a business podcaster. The ones who use them well leave Las Vegas with months of content and a list of new relationships. The ones who don't leave with a hangover.
Coming to Vegas for a conference?
We host visiting podcasters at our Henderson studio — 20 minutes from the Strip, 25 from the Las Vegas Convention Center. Sessions are $299 each. Same-week booking. Half-day and full-day rates available for batching multiple sessions.
See the visiting podcaster page →